Fears Megabox will eat other site's revenue

Kim Dotcom says his new Megabox music service won't be ready for six months, delaying what critics fear could become a fresh legal stoush.

The entrepreneur is due to unveil his new Mega file-locker service that will be designed to provide a secure place in cyberspace for internet users to store and access files at his Auckland mansion next Sunday evening.

Mega will be the successor to Megaupload which was shut down by United States authorities after Dotcom was controversially arrested on copyright and racketeering charges last year.

Megabox is a sister service that will let musicians sell music to the public online. Dotcom has indicated it will undercut traditional intermediaries such as record labels by allowing artists to retain about 90 per cent of the income their music generates.

An optional software application, Megakey, would let internet users access Megabox for free while still allowing musicians to be paid. Once downloaded, it would replace at least some advertisements on any websites internet users surfed to with ads served up by Mega, thereby eating into other businesses' online revenues.

Some internet experts believe that could embroil Dotcom in fresh copyright disputes with rival online publishers.

However, Dotcom tweeted that Megabox and Megakey would not be ready until six months after Mega's launch.

He declined to discuss the ethics and implications of Megakey last week but defended it in a tweet yesterday saying it would "change online advertising forever" and give "power to the user".

"Advertisers will pay you for your eyeballs and you get content for free," he said.